Skidmore Athletic Director Jeff Segrave has reinstated six of the eight players suspended following a hazing situation which occurred in September of this year. The two remaining players remain suspended per the terms of the punishment set forth by the school in late October. All player names have been kept confidential at the request of the school.
The six reinstated players saw their one month suspensions reduced upon the completion of a term paper (a condensed version of which is published by permission here) detailing the definition of hazing, the dangers associated with hazing and the impact of hazing at the athletic and institutional levels. Upon sign-off from the Skidmore athletic department on the quality and substance of the paper in conjunction with a written apology and local community service to be completed prior to the end of the semester, the players were reinstated to the team last week. The Skidmore News ran the written apology in its Nov. 23 issue and the students’ paper will be submitted for consideration to the campus publication as an avenue to further educate the Skidmore student body.
“We have an obligation as an educational institution to be both punitive and educational in addressing these kinds of situations,” said Segrave. “You want to find a fair balance that will benefit the individual students and the campus as a whole. Losing playing time is clearly a punitive action but we want the players to understand the context of the situation and the consequences of making a bad decision. They need to understand what was done, what could have happened and why they are in their current circumstances.”
The success of this approach remains to be seen, but it seems apparent that the visibility of the situation and subsequent educational activities have raised awareness at Skidmore and enabled the players to focus on the impact of their transgressions. Segrave added, “We want these players to be contrite, and to personally embrace the full impact of their actions so that moving forward they can better represent themselves and our institution.”
All of the reinstated players were available for the Babson tournament held over the Thanksgiving weekend.
